Identity: who am i?
...th a negative outcome will develop into an adult with a confused sense of self and place in society. Therefore, a person’s childhood effects how they will develop into adults. Hamachek discovered that to have a healthy identity, a positive self-image is necessary. Self-image is how a person views themselves in terms of physical appearance, academics, intelligence and sociability. Everyone has very different views of themselves, originating in the comparison with others. Santrock describes self-image as the way one compares them self to the world. A self-image can change in response to transitions in life, such as the death of a loved one, having a new child in the family, or any major media event. Hamachek describes self-image slightly different. He states that self-image is a very personal thing, and he noted that children who experience more failures than successes are unpredictable in setting personal standards. This leads him to believe that if they have a low self-image, due to failure as a child, they will probably have problems establishing their identity later in life. On the other hand, a healthy self-image creates a person who feels worthy, wanted, accepted and able. Not only do they feel this way, but they also acted this way; actions originate from earlier success. A healthy self-image will help to understand identity, direction in life and why. The writers of Psychological Perspectives on Self and Identity offer another opinion: self-image is the belief about one’s characteristics, as well as, periodic and semantic memories about the self. For that reason, I believe that a person’s self-image is constantly being formed throughout their lives. It is the result of the decisions they made and the things they went through as children. It is also the result of who they were friends with and how they were compared to other people. All these things build self-image and identity. A person’s self-image answers the “who” question of identity. How does one achieve this particular view of them self? Part of their identity is seeing their self through someone else’s eyes; their relationships with other people are important. The first relationship most people have is with their parents. Hauser explains that the way a persons parents brought them up affected their self-image. Most children look up to their parents. If their father, for example, is a bad role model for them, then the child will have an unhealthy view of every man. If the child is a boy, in adulthood he may have trouble being a good influence for his children. The next relationship that people have is with friends or with peers. Hamacheck found in his research that people prefer to associate with those who think well of them, in order to achieve more self confidence and an improved self image. It was also brought to his attention that one may be friends with someone simply because that person liked them first. If a person is in a group that accepts them for who they are then they will have a high self esteem. On the contrary, if they only hang out with people who agree with them, then they may never have a chance to evaluate themselves. If their friends think well of them, they will most likely have a healthy self image, leading to a healthy identity. On the other hand, if they have trouble making and keeping friends their identity will also suffer. According to Santrock the groups that an individual associates with defines who they are. Many teens depart from their beliefs to join a particular group. When they think about their identity they often refer to the group that they hang out with, even though this may not be who they really are. Hauser believes that they do this because adolescence care more about how they look in the eyes of others than how they really feel about themselves. This shows us that during adolescence individuals care more about who other people think they are rather than what they really believe they are. Role models also affect an adolescent’s life. The book Psychological Perspectives on Self and Identity states that role models can be good or bad for a person. This depends on a few issues. The character of the role model is important. If a child has a role model who advertises smoking and drinking all the time, then the child might think that these behaviors are alright to do. On the other hand, if their particular role model campaigned against immoral activities, they would be good for the child. Secondly, say the child was watching an athlete play through an injury. Later the child is playing a sport and he gets hurt. To imitate his hero the child keeps playing. Two things could come of this: either the child could get hurt worse or they might have been a child who was afraid to play and now are not as afraid. It has also been proven that children with high-quality role models have higher self-images. Self-image, peer relations and role models are all part of what influences a person’s identity. Self-image starts to build at birth and continues to grow and change until death, shaping and changing identity. If one does not like the person they have become they can change it. It is a long process but it is obtainable. First they need to look at themselves with a better perspective; they need to look at themselves more positively. They can do this by being more active and having friends that build them up instead of put them down. Since they already know that they need the right friends, they also have to know to get rid of their old friends. Finally, they have to take a look at their role models and see if they are going to be a good influence on them or not. The role model they choose may depend on where they live and what influences their culture has on them. A person’s culture is where they grew up and what their heritage is. How others view that particular person’s culture affects how those others view that person as an individual. A person’s culture can give them a sense of pride, or make them feel shameful. This also affects weather or not we will have a healthy self identity. If a person is ashamed of whom they are in regards to ethnic race then they will always attempt to change who they are. They will always be in a small identity crisis, in this aspect of their identity. Hauser did a study on African Americans and Caucasian Americans. He found that African Americans seem to be closer to their parents than Caucasian Americans when they are starting high school, due to their particular culture. During the later years of high school African Americans and Caucasian Americans become closer in this category. Relationships with parents are important in identity formation. Even more important is how a person feels about their parents. African Americans for the most part seem to have closer relationships with their parents than Caucasian Americans do. This is a cultural difference and may not apply to everyone in these two categories. “The society into whic...